1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the lighting fixture art and more particularly to a cover plate arrangement adapted to both convert a recessed down light into a structure for mounting a dependent lighting fixture or provide a mounting for a new installation of a dependent or external lighting fixture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recessed down lights have been utilized in home, commercial and industrial applications for many years for directing a light beam through a hole in the ceiling to the area therebelow. The prior art recessed down lights included structure mounted above the plane of the lower surface of the ceiling and included various can type devices for retention of the light bulb, mounting structure for the can type device and a trim plate or rim surrounding the hole in the ceiling and through which the light bulb could be accessed for replacement. The holes in the ceiling to accommodate the down lights were substantially standardized as to the diameter thereof in order to match the size for conventional three inch, four inch, five inch and six inch size down lights. However, there have been many variations in the structure utilized for retention of the rims or other components in the down light assembly. In general, there have been two primary types of retention arrangements in the down lights. One of the prior art retention arrangements has been for the rim structure to have a plurality, usually three, upstanding, equally spaced, spring loaded hook type mounting fingers which project upwardly into the region above the ceiling for hooking engagement with an appropriate rim or other structure in the down light assembly. A second primary type mounting arrangement was to provide an inverted “C” shaped slot on the interior portion of the rim structure into which conventional “chicken leg” torsion spring wire retention devices were installed for engagement with a appropriate structure in the mounting arrangement above the ceiling level.
Another type of retention arrangement has been to retain a reflector and such structure has three equally spaced, punched out tongue or similar devices which engage a cooperative structure on the reflector for retention thereof.
In many applications it has been desired to change the down lights to a pendalier or other type of lighting fixture which is mounted below the plane of the lower surface of the ceiling. However, to accomplish such a replacement, a cover plate is required to cover the hole in the ceiling previously utilized in connection with the down light. One type of cover plate that has heretofore been utilized in some applications has been wherein there was provided a bridging structure such as a bar or other device having two spaced apart threaded apertures bridging the hole in the ceiling utilized by the down light. For such applications the cover plate had a pair of apertures therethrough in a spaced apart relationship and screws were inserted in the aperture to threadingly engage the matching threaded apertures in the bridging structure. Such a cover plate had the unsightly screw heads visible at the exterior surface of the cover plate and such cover plate did not have the structural elements necessary for attaching a new dependent or external lighting fixture. While such a cover plate did, in fact, cover the hole in the ceiling, the presence of screw heads detracted from the appearance of the cover plate. Further, if no nut type devices were appropriately positioned in the down light assembly for cooperative engagement with the screws inserted through the cover plate, such bridging structure over the hole in the ceiling had to be specially installed. In order to minimize cost, the cover plate for covering a hole in the ceiling of a down light when converting the down light to a pendalier or other type of externally mounted light fixture, it is desired that the cover plate be readily mountable in any type of the mounting arrangements heretofore utilized in mounting, for example, the rim of the down light. Additionally, the same type of cover plate should also be capable of utilization in new installations of pendalier or other externally mounted lighting fixtures particularly where the new lighting fixture was to be installed in a pattern where some, or most, of the pattern was previously comprised of down lights that were converted to an externally mounted lighting fixture.
Thus, there has long been a need for a cover plate to be utilized in both the conversion of down lights to externally mounted light fixtures and adaptable for installation and mounting in any of the three common mounting arrangements utilized in down lights as well as useful in mounting new externally mounted lighting fixtures.